Tuesday, October 13, 2015

The third quarter in the comic-book Direct Market closed off about 3% versus the same quarter in 2014, according to data released by Diamond Comic Distributors. Click to see Comichron's estimates for comics ordered in September.)

That 3% amounts to a drop of about $4 million in orders for the quarter, to $141 million. Marvel's shipping schedule played a role, and it's worth noting that while Loot Crate releases added several million dollars to the first half of the year, there were none in the third quarter.

September 2015: $7.78 million
Versus 1 year ago this month: +5%
Versus 5 years ago this month: +11%
Versus 10 years ago this month, just the Top 100 vs. the Top 100: +27%
Versus 15 years ago this month, just the Top 25 vs. the Top 25: +45%
3rd Quarter 2015: $23.22 million, +4% vs. Q3 2014
YEAR TO DATE: $66.43 million, +3% vs. 2014

The average comic book in the Top 300 cost $3.76; the average comic book
retailers ordered cost $3.87. The median and most common price for comics offered was $3.99. Click to see comics prices across time.

Comichron.com curator John Jackson Miller
has tracked the comics industry for more than 20 years, including a
decade editing the industry's retail trade magazine; he is the author of
several guides to comics, as well as more than a hundred comic books
for various franchises.

Comics dollar orders were down 19.6% year-to-year and graphic novel orders were up 12.5%, netting out to an overall drop of 10.7%. This, despite September 2015 having one more shipping week than the same month the previous year.

That said, September 2014 was nonetheless a very strong month, with Marvel launching its Death of Wolverine title and DC's orders boosted by its lenticular "Future's End" covers. Retailers ordered nearly $51 million in comics, graphic novels, and magazines that month, as compared with the approximately $45.33 million in comics, graphic novels, and magazines ordered this September.

As seen in one of the tables below, whereas the number of new graphic novels on offer rose substantially this September as expected with the fifth week, the number of new comics released barely changed, suggesting that publishers were trimming their periodical offerings as the market headed into autumn.

The third quarter of 2015 closed down 3% year-over-year, the first down quarter since the first quarter of 2014. It's also the first time the third quarter orders have been down year-over-year since 2010. Orders are still ahead for the year: September's orders bring the total for the first nine months of the year to $423.44 million, up 7.2%.

A new Saga volume helped graphic novels have a much better month, comparatively speaking, than the comics side of things did:

Top 10 graphic novels

Title

Price

Publisher

1

Saga Vol. 5

$14.99

Image

2

Descender Vol. 1: Tin
Stars

$9.99

Image

3

Batman Vol. 7:
Endgame HC

$24.99

DC

4

Chrononauts Vol.
1

$9.99

Image

5

Batman Vol. 6:
Graveyard Shift

$16.99

DC

6

Avatar The Last
Airbender Vol. 10: Smoke & Shadow Part 1

$10.99

Dark Horse

7

Mad Max: Fury
Road

$14.99

DC

8

Batman: The Killing
Joke Special Edition HC

$17.99

DC

9

The Joker: Endgame HC

$29.99

DC

10

Saga Vol. 1

$9.99

Image

The order-of-finish in the market shares was identical on the dollar and unit sides for the top seven publishers:

Top 10 graphic novels

PUBLISHER

DOLLAR SHARE

Marvel

32.67%

DC

26.01%

Image

11.81%

IDW

5.72%

Dark Horse

4.42%

Boom

2.11%

Dynamite

1.79%

Avatar

1.55%

Viz

1.32%

Titan

1.31%

Other

11.29%

PUBLISHER

UNIT SHARE

Marvel

38.12%

DC

26.32%

Image

12.07%

IDW

4.84%

Dark Horse

3.64%

Boom

2.08%

Dynamite

1.80%

Valiant

1.58%

Titan

1.25%

Avatar

1.19%

Other

7.12%

The number of new comics shipped was not appreciably higher than in September 2014, which is unusual considering the extra shipping week; 58 more graphic novels shipped last month than in the previous September.

New items shipped

Publisher

Comics shipped

Graphic novels
shipped

Magazines shipped

Total shipped

Marvel

80

23

0

103

DC

70

25

0

95

Image

73

18

0

91

IDW

42

20

0

62

Dark Horse

29

26

0

55

Boom

30

9

0

39

Dynamite

20

7

0

27

Titan

11

12

3

26

Valiant

10

5

0

15

Oni

7

2

0

9

Other

118

190

49

357

Total

490

337

52

879

The detailed report with estimates can be found here next week. (And I can be found Saturday, Oct. 10, at the Madison (Wis.) Public Library main branch at 2 p.m., speaking as part of the Star Wars Reads Day literacy event.)

Comichron.com curator John Jackson Miller
has tracked the comics industry for more than 20 years, including a
decade editing the industry's retail trade magazine; he is the author of
several guides to comics, as well as more than a hundred comic books
for various franchises.

Comichron is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.